While some news stories have suggested her
starvation is painless, the head of the Christian Medical Association is
debunking what he calls "the myth" that it does not involve pain.

"Contrary to those
that try to paint a picture of a gentle process, death by dehydration is a
cruel, inhumane and often agonizing death," said Dr. David Stevens, who says
most so-called experts have never seen someone die under such circumstances.

"Unfortunately, having
worked for 13 years in Africa, where the most common cause of death in
children is dehydration from gastroenteritis, I have seen hundreds if not
thousands of patients with dehydration and some of them so far gone, that
despite resuscitation attempts, they died."

Stevens, who
represents a group of 17,000 physicians, explained what happens with
starvation:

As dehydration begins,
there is extreme thirst, dry mouth and thick saliva. The patient becomes
dizzy, faint and unable to stand or sit; has severe cramping in the arms and
legs as the sodium and potassium concentrations in the body goes up as
fluids go down. In misery, the patient tries to cry but there are no tears.
The patient experiences severe abdominal cramps, nausea and dry-heaving as
the stomach and intestines dry out.
By now the skin and lips are cracking and the tongue is swollen. The nose
may bleed as the mucous membranes dry out and break down. The skin loses
elasticity, thins and wrinkles. The hands and feet become cold as the
remaining fluids in the circulatory system are shunted to the vital organs
in an attempt to stay alive. The person stops urinating and has severe
headaches as their brain shrinks from lack of fluids. The patient becomes
anxious but then gets progressively more lethargic.

Some patients have
hallucinations and seizures as their body chemistry becomes even more
imbalanced. This proceeds to coma before death occurs. The final event as
the blood pressure becomes almost undetectable is a major heart arrhythmia
that stops the heart from pumping.

But Stevens' statement
is contradicted by other doctors.

"The cessation of
eating and drinking is the dominant way that mammals die," Dr. Ira Byock,
director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New
Hampshire told the Los Angeles Times. "It is a very gentle way that nature
has provided for animals to leave this life."

Dr. Robert Sullivan at
Duke University Medical Center told the Times that after 24 hours without
any food, "the body goes into a different mode and you're not hungry
anymore," he said. "Total starvation is not painful or uncomfortable at all.
When we were hunting rabbits millions of years ago, we had to have a back-up
mode because we didn't always get a rabbit. You can't go hunting if you're
hungry."